"You're the madame of a cat house." A kind way for a friend to express her concern that I was on the path of becoming a crazy cat lady.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Unfinished Works and Works in Progress

I finally took the plunge and learned how to knit with needles. New obsession - check! My god-mother and I took a beginner's knitting class at the Hawley Street Shoppe in Mundelein, IL. The group was small and I was sad to see it end. Of course I had also just finished reading "Friday Night Knitting Club" and somehow wanted to project the feeling of togetherness from the book onto our little group. Irrational I know. I'm also pregnant, so cut me some slack.

During the four weeks of class, my god-mother and I were able to spend a lot of time together - much more so that we ever have. It felt really good to reconnect with family who you see only once a year. There are those family member's who you see once a year and think..."now that's the reason why I only see so and so once a year." My GM does not fall into that category, I always leave wanting more from our visits. This might just be the year for us to break the chains of our old habits. We're committed to seeing each other at least once a month. That alone is forging a new path in our relationship.

Now that I have a new crafting obsession, I have a whole new group of projects which have been put down on permanent hiatus or are really a work in progress. Take for instance ...

Security Blanket - I purchased a Vanna White book o' projects and found this pattern. I started it before the knitting class. It was easy enough - half double-crochet stitches all the way across. The body of the blanket is finished. All that is left is to weave in the loopy ends and crochet the trim.

Did I mention that I have a new knitting obsession? Yes, this project waits patiently for me to come back to it for finishing.

Dishcloth - I started this project during the my last knitting class. An easy project for a first-time knitter to complete and keep you motivated to keep knitting.

And here it sits on the needle.

I needed a more challenging project - or so I thought.

Fans & Feathers - a project which has kicked my ass 3 times. You'd think I would have given up. Stubbornness really keeps me going. The pattern is easy enough, I just need to pay attention and not drop or add stitches.

I hope to have this afghan complete before I go into labor. Knowing me, I'll be finishing the damn thing while I'm in the throws of labor.

Yet another baby afghan - I started this project a while ago. I had meant to give it to my SIL's sister whose baby is now several months old. It started on my yellow KK loom using the trinity stitch. I've made several blankets in this fashion in the past and thought I could knock another one out. Some where during the process I become bored and put it down.

Where it still sits to this day. Still sitting on the loom.

I then pulled out my trusted knitting board, resigned myself to create a simple stockinette stitch blanket. While the blanket worked up quickly, I realized I was going to run out of yarn - and I have a limited amount. The yarn is out of my mom's old stash, so what I have is what I have. Concept frogged.

The project's next metamorphosis took on the form of the picture you see above. It was also born out of my frustration with the Fans and Feathers blanket. 100 stitches, garter stitch, easy stripes. Nothing to weave in later other than the starting and ending yarns.

I have yarn for two more blankets. Mr. CrazyCat has asked me how many baby blankets could one child need? I responded, "Is there a limit that I wasn't aware of?" The oh-so-patient Mr. CrazyCat just shakes his head and lets me be me....knitting into oblivion.